As part of its ongoing quest to scrub NYC clean of fun things, the NYPD has arrested 96 subway dancers this year so far. Forty-six were arrested for reckless endangerment, and 50 got disorderly conduct charges. Last year, cops arrested two dancers.
This, then, is the work of new commissioner Bill Bratton, pomiser of building warm-and-fuzzy, trusting and legitimate bonds between the cops and the communities they police. You might think that going out of your way to arrest kids for making a little while doing something they’re passionate about — kids who, in anecdotal experience, are overwhelmingly black — might be detrimental to those bonds. According to Bratton, you’d be wrong.
“People when they pay a fare have the right to a safe, quiet ride, with as few disturbances as possible,” he told WPIX in March, adding, “The acrobats, I’ve gotten a lot of complaints about the acrobats. They’re small crimes that have a big impact, a negative impact on the general public.”
(Photo: @kenstein)
